A Journey of Inner and Outer Exploration
My passion for travel, yoga, and holistic wellbeing has led me on a remarkable journey, culminating in the creation of Wild with Clare. As founder of The Quaives retreat centre, I've spent over 14 years integrating yoga, sound healing, Ayurvedic practices and women’s wellness teachings within stunning natural settings. Now, I bring this integrated approach to you, offering retreats and courses that combine inner exploration with breathtaking adventures.
THIS IS HOW IT ALL BEGAN…
Early Influences and Discovering Yoga
From a young age, I felt a deep connection to nature, spirit, and movement, particularly dance. Creating dance routines fuelled my childhood, while challenging times found me seeking solace in the outdoors. At sixteen, I discovered esoteric and Eastern philosophies, particularly Buddhism, engaging in self-directed meditation and reading. It wasn't until I was eighteen, in the 2000s when yoga classes were still relatively rare, that I encountered yoga. My first class felt like coming home – a harmonious blend of movement, meditation, and philosophy, a stark contrast to my competitive gymnastics training and Western schooling. I'd found my tribe.
Overcoming Health Challenges and Finding Ayurveda
Yoga became my constant companion through university where I studied Environmental Science. Whilst I adored my subject and embracing university life, I was suffering episodes of debilitating IBS and period pains. Yoga and exercise became my medicine, alleviating symptoms and stress. Discovering Ayurveda led to a cure for my IBS – a transformation for which I'm eternally grateful. For my period pain, I initially used a progesterone based hormone implant as a temporary solution, which worked but ultimately disconnected me from my feminine energy and true cyclical nature .
The Call to Teach and a Transformative Journey
After earning my BSc in Environmental Science, I travelled, envisioning a life studying jaguars. While that dream didn't immediately materialise, my travels—through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Brazil—continued. Unfulfilling work led to further escapes: California, the French Alps, Paris, and finally, a transformative month-long stay at a Thai yoga ashram. This intensive experience solidified my calling to teach yoga—now, not later. An Ayurvedic doctor at the ashram recommended removing my progesterone implant to restore balance, advice I followed upon returning to the UK, feeling clear about my path, both personally and professionally.
Building a Business and Deepening My Understanding of Feminine Energy
My return to the UK was marked by rapid career growth: a children's yoga job, teacher training, and within a year, becoming a successful franchisee leading teacher training courses for other franchisees. I built a thriving business, teaching thirty weekly classes in London schools, leading numerous adult classes across the city, and even hosting overseas retreats in Turkey and Spain. This busy period coincided with my naturalisation process after implant removal, and my period pain intensified significantly. This prompted a transformative journey through women's wellness yoga and Yoga Nidra, guided by Uma Dinsmore-Tuli, and led me to deepen my understanding of the feminine essence and to create supportive women’s circles.
Motherhood, The Quaives, and a Powerful Transformation
Motherhood prompted a significant life shift, leading to a move to the Kent countryside for fresh countryside air and to establish my dream business, a successful retreat centre known as The Quaives. Over the years, I've hosted a wide range of retreats and supported other yoga teachers in realising their own dream retreats. I continued training adding to my expertise for facilitating various yoga classes, massage treatments, and sound healing sessions. I invested in a 1:1 mentorship for my own personal development that deepened my understanding of masculine and feminine energetics, pleasure and relationships. During this time I created two signature offerings, Sisterhood Gatherings and Be Radiant Retreats, that provided transformative experiences for many, combining wellness sessions, empowerment talks, healthy food, and connection with nature, often at pivotal moments in their lives. I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to have met so many wonderful people, an experience that has further fuelled my passion for creating transformative spaces.
A New Chapter: Wild with Clare
As I approached forty, significant life changes unfolded: a life-saving operation, supporting my mother-in-law through end-of-life care, and the ending of a seventeen-year relationship. Turning forty marked a new beginning—a journey of rebuilding, re-embracing adventure, and opening to new love. This transformation has been profound, a true rebirth. Now, I share my passion for feminine energy, travel, and holistic practices through Wild with Clare, combining yoga, sound healing, ayurvedic massage, and exploration—including my newfound love of saunas! This fuels the creation of my dream retreats, where inner and outer journeys intertwine. Join me for an adventure, or to learn about your feminine wisdom.
